my journey from gluttonous to glorious

Which means that it’s 86° at noon… and that’s actually kind of nice right now and we’ve been trying to enjoy the temperate weather. If it would stay 88° all year long then I’d be in heaven, but alas… winter is inevitable! Ha!

A couple of mornings a week, my three-year-old and I have been dropping my oldest off at Kindergarten and then going to the park to enjoy this nice weather before he goes to preschool. Recently we went to a different park than we usually go to and we were there all by ourselves (well, us and some very, very busy squirrels) and it was just beautiful!

Given that my child is ALL. BOY. he immediately found a tree to attempt to climb despite all of the awesome playground equipment there. But, I was really surprised when he couldn’t climb the tree… especially because it was at an angle.

So, when he asked me to climb it, I thought… “Oh I’m really gonna show him what an awesome mom I am now!” And then I couldn’t climb it either!

Because at the very bottom it had been climbed by so. many. people. that the bark was worn almost completely smooth!

And I was really struck by it… so, of course, being the iPhoner that I am… I immediately began snapping pics of it. And so, of course, that got me thinking about it.

Ya know… I gave up pretty quickly trying to climb the tree. For several reasons. I didn’t have on shoes with any grip. My 3-year-old bolted off to another section of the park. I was kinda afraid that I might fall.

So I gave up and just took pictures of it thinking, I bet it would be cool to see the park from up there.

And as I took more pictures I noticed that just a few feet up the tree, the bark was rough and definitely NOT smooth because either not as many people got up there or because once you got past the initial first few feet of vertical climb, it was much easier and you didn’t have to “grip” on as much.

And of course I immediately saw the parallel to my own life there. So often I give up when there is an initial struggle. I don’t feel like I have the proper “footwear” so I just… stop. I don’t go get different shoes or just go barefoot. I just stop trying. Like, so many of us, when we don’t IMMEDIATELY start to lose weight we just give up. We don’t try a different diet or a different focus, we just give in.

Or there is another responsibility that I use as my excuse… I have to chase down my kid or pay a bill or do the dishes. Same thing: I don’t have time to go workout because I have to do other stuff. I don’t have time to grocery shop or cook because I have other things to do.

Or there is the biggest reason that we don’t “climb” the tree: we are afraid we might fall… that we might FAIL. So, as soon as we try to climb on that slick bark and we can’t immediately do it… well, that’s just a great excuse to stop right there. Because if I stop trying to lose weight then I can’t fail at trying to lose weight.

Win-win, right?

Nope.

Because it is once we climb past that slicky part that we get to see the world from a different perspective. We might be scratched up a bit. We might be breathing hard from the exertion. We might be scared to death… but we are up there!

So, I am reminded with whatever struggle I am going through… don’t just give up because the first part is difficult, or even seemingly impossible! Seriously people! Let’s remember… with God all. things. are. possible.

Climbing a crazy tree (in the spiritual sense) is possible!

And just as crazy seeming… overcoming your issues with food. learning to rely on Him. losing weight you’ve carried for years.

Even that is possible.

Say it to yourself right now: I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.Phil 4:13

Now, go climb that tree.

{And now indulge me in a cute pic of my kid. I just had to throw it on here too!}

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Meet Me

Hey there, friend, my name is January! Almost two years ago, realizing I was addicted to food (mainly sugar) I made a covenant with God to only eat certain foods and I'm blogging my way through it!

I'd love for you to join me on this journey as we seek God to help us through addiction to food, gluttony, overeating... whatever you want to call it. I truly believe that through covenanting with God that we can be free of this weight that brings us down, and we can move from gluttonous to glorious!